The Spice Girls burst onto the British music scene in 1996, earning both the adoration and derision that accompany nearly instant fame. From the start, they’ve been almost universally derided in the music industry as a synthetic, mass-marketing tool. Unlike the “Fab Four” Beatles, who had spent years songwriting and playing in clubs before they […]
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Long before she was a roots rock sensation, Sheryl Crow honed her skills by singing backup for Don Henley and Michael Jackson and jamming with other L.A.-based musicians in the Tuesday Night Music Club. But by the time her catchy single “All I Wanna Do” stormed the radio and earned her three Grammys in ’94, […]
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What does Shakespeare say to an era that feels that the times are out of joint? He does not renounce the world or wallow in self pity. He is the poet of this worldliness. Shakespeare distills his experiences into common sense and uncommon wisdom. In the hands of lesser playwrights, nobility often rests on the […]
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He was born Thomas Sean Connery in Fountainbridge, Scotland, on August 25, 1930, the son of Joe, a truck driver, and Euphamia, a 20-year-old housewife. The neighborhood was known as “the street of a thousand smells” for the stench of the local rubber mill and several breweries that always filled the air. Connery’s home was […]
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Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, ruled England from 1558 to 1603 during what is known as the Elizabethan Age. Elizabeth’s reign was a time of great prosperity and achievement, and her court was center for poets. Elizabeth I, one of England’s greatest sovereigns, had her grandfather’s frugality and […]
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Prince William may still be a schoolboy at Eton, but he’s already a presence on the international stage. Since the death of his mother, Princess Diana, William has begun to replace her as the star of the Royal Family. When Diana died, he behaved with a grace and dignity beyond his years, impressing millions of […]
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Finally, after all the bizarre communiqués, cryptic messages and life on the run, Patty Hearst confronts reality…… Yet her parents had new fears. Patty, who drove the getaway car in the fatal Carmichael Park robbery could face murder charges. Her parents reached out to protect her and they got the best lawyer money could buy. […]
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A woman is a woman, according to history. But to Pablo Picasso, a woman was something else again. A combination of lines, forms, and colors. Picasso changed the combination to suit his moods, and his result was seldom Eve-like. The woman may have elephant ears, crossed eyes, two noses. In the name of art, Picasso […]
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Norman Rockwell did 322 covers for the weekly magazine the Saturday evening post over nearly half a century. All of them, along with the original oils that became the covers and ads, are part of the first comprehensive exhibition of the artist’s work since his death in 1978 — now on display at Washington’s Corcoran […]
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When Isaac Newton was inspired by a falling apple at his Linconshire home to ponder the concept of gravity in the 1660’s, he couldn’t have known how far from England that tree’s fruit would fall. Direct descendants of Newton’s original tree, which died in the early 1800’s currently flourish in locations as disparate as India […]
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